Lyle Blackburn - Lizard Man: The True Story of the Bishopville Monster

Lizard Man

The True Story of the Bishopville Monster

Lyle Blackburn

Anomalist Books

San Antonio * Charlottesville

An Original Publication of Anomalist Books

Lizard Man: The True Story of the Bishopville Monster

Copyright 2013 by Lyle Blackburn

ISBN: 9781938398179

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

Cover artwork by Carlos Cabrera

Illustrations by Joseph Daniel Patterson

Maps by Lyle Blackburn

Photos courtesy of individual photographers as credited

Book design by Seale Studios

For more information about the author, visit: www.lyleblackburn.com

Or go to AnomalistBooks.com, or write to:

Anomalist Books, 5150 Broadway #108, San Antonio, TX 78209

For Sandy and Lyla.

With special thanks to my exceptional research partner, Cindy Lee.

Contents

This book contains actual accounts by real people based on personal interviews, newspaper archives, and police reports.

Foreword

I personally consider Lyle Blackburns The Beast of Boggy Creek to be the finest cryptozoological title of 2012. It quite rightly received excellent reviews and justifiably thrust both Lyle and the Fouke Monster itself firmly into the limelight. Sometimes, however, when an author puts out such a great first book it begs an awkward question: how do you follow it with an equally good second book?

Of course, Lyle could have done the literary equivalent of what the Sex Pistols did with their classic 1977 album, Never Mind the Bollocks . Thats to say, the band put out an amazing record and then split only months later. Their legacy: a still-stunning, stand-alone collection of anthems from a group that went out with a bang.

Fortunately for us, the readers and fans of all things monstrous, Lyle chose not to follow the live fast, die young approach of the Brit punks. Instead, just about as soon as he was done with ol Boggy, Lyle was hot on the trail of the truth surrounding yet another fantastic creature: Lizard Man.

As with such famous cryptids as Mothman and Owlman, its name provokes imagery of a comic-book-style super-villain. But, in reality, and as Lyle demonstrates, theres nothing cartoonish about Lizard Man in the slightest. Nightmarish is a far better description. So, with that said, what has Lyle served up for us this time?

Lizard Man: The True Story of the Bishopville Monster is an enthralling, chillingly atmospheric, and deeply revealing look at a strange and controversial legend that first surfaced in 1988. This is a story of small-town secrets, of a cast of fascinating and diverse characters, of media hysteria, and of a terrible, and terrifying, animal that just may be more than the myth that many assume it to be.

Its important to note, too, that even though the story is more than a quarter of a century old, its fascination endureswithin Bishopville itself, within the mainstream media, and within the field of cryptozoology, as Lyle skillfully demonstrates.

What I particularly enjoyed about The Beast of Boggy Creek is that Lyle didnt lazily sit at home, while drawing all of his data from the internet. Instead, he hit the road and sought out the truth, firsthand. And thats precisely what Lyle did while researching the story you are about to read.

With his research partner, Cindy Lee, Lyle headed offroad-trip styleto South Carolina, where he tracked down the key players in the saga (or, at least, those who have not fallen foul of what may be nothing less than a sinister Lizard Man Curse), and he explored the wild woods and the spooky swamps of Bishopville, with just one thing on his mind: finding the answers to the beastly puzzle.

It wasnt as easy as it might sound, however. Not only have 25 years passed since the Lizard Man first surfaced, but, as Lyle learned and as he demonstrates, there have been a lot of misconceptions about the reports, the eyewitnesses, and the creature itself.

Rather like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson roaming the foggy wilds of Dartmoor, England, in pursuit of the Hound of the Baskervilles, Lyle and Cindy undertake far more than a bit of dicey detective work as they make their way around town and the surrounding, woody, swampy landscape. And also like Holmes and Watson, our dynamic duo uncover a wealth of untapped data and cases, encounter a variety of people who may be the key to parts of the saga, and realize that Bishopville really does appear to be the domain of something wild, something primitive.

Lizard Man is an important piece of work.

Nick Redfern is the author of many books, including Monster Diary and Theres Something in the Woods .

Introduction

I must admit that years ago when I first came across reports of a lizard man that allegedly stalked the swampy waters near Bishopville, South Carolina, I was dubious. The idea of a green-skinned, three-toed reptilian humanoid slinking across roads at night, attacking stranded motorists, and gnawing on car bumpers seemed more like a Scooby Doo episode than anything remotely real. Not to say that a real-life Creature from the Black Lagoon isnt an intriguing notion to a monster aficionado such as myself, but when it comes to the likelihood that this might be an actual living, breathing creature, I felt it stretched the boundaries of biology and logic to the limits.

Im sure Im not alone in this sort of reaction. The mere name Lizard Man can easily conjure images of a cartoonish creature with an extended jaw, scaly skin, and a long tail that drags behind as it leaves its lair in search of some poor soul to scare. It doesnt help that the media perpetuates this image either. News articles and internet pages that recount sightings of the Bishopville Lizard Man often inflate the caricature by including childish drawings of rampaging lizards or walking alligators in their reports. In some cases theyve even used photos of toys when no suitable drawing was available. Merchandisers have also followed suit, capitalizing on the legend by selling T-shirts with screenprinted images of goofy reptile men in a variety of primary colors. No doubt this is all in fun, but does it really represent what people claimed to have seen on those dark nights down in Scape Ore Swamp?

It wasnt until I began taking a closer look at the case that I realized perhaps my initial impression of this so-called reptilian humanoid might just be wrong. Following the release of my first book, The Beast of Boggy Creek , I was tossing around ideas for a second book. Ive always been partial to creatures that inhabit swampy areasas the Boggy Creek creature doesso I began to take a closer look at some of the others. There are certainly many types sloshing around the realms of cryptozoology, but the one that kept coming up more than any was the Lizard Man of Lee Countya.k.a. the Bishopville Lizard Man. As a cryptid, the Lizard Man shares company with heavy-hitters such as Bigfoot, Yeti, Loch Ness Monster, and Chupacabras, but still manages to carve out its own reputation, which is quite famous among those who follow these sort of real-life monster reports. As such, I thought the creature might be worthy of a second look.